A Small Meeting
by Thick Soup
Summary: A smarter person explores loopholes. Bewitched!AU, I think.


_There are always bigger fish, with bigger brains, with bigger street smarts. Just because you are top doesn't mean you are top._

 _Disclaimer: This. Is. Fanfiction. I had to agree to a legal disclaimer for this to be published, I believe, so what's the point of me still typing this?_

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"Miss... Bertha Jones, was it?"

"Bertha Jorkins, Headmaster."

"My apologies, Miss Bertha Jorkins, could you tell us why you are here?"

"Well, I was told to come before the committee to present the new way I discovered to counter the Imperius Curse."

"That is correct, Miss Jorkins. If you may, could you tell us the circumstances that led you achieve this rather momentous task?"

"Well, sir, I was on my vacation in Albania, when I got waylaid by a group of snakes, led by a smokey appartition with distinctively glowing eyes, if you could call them that, of red. The wraith proclaimed himself He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, I believe, and took control of my body shortly after that declaration and the monologue he made after."

"You claim Voldemort is back?"

"W...Well, **was** back, sir."

"Oh? Please clarify, Miss Jorkins."

"Well, you see, after He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named possessed me, he... tortured me, for a few days, I believe it was. I'm ashamed to say I let loose a few bits of vital information about the Ministry and the then-scheduled-to-occur-soon Triwizard Tournament. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named wasn't satisfied with the information I gave him, however, and continued torturing me."

"It was after a few more days of torture did information that The Dark Lord did want, information pertaining to the continued living of one of his followers, Bartimus Crouch Junior, but subjugated under the Imperius Curse by his father in his childhood home."

"The Dark Lord took me to the Crouch Home. He made me release Barty Crouch Junior by knocking out the Senior. He spoke to Barty, with his own voice, that horrible, raspy, voice, saying that he still lived, and that Barty was one of his most loyal followers."

"Barty, obviously, fell head over heels to serve his master, especially with the praise, and when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named instructed him to put me under the Imperius to control me so that I could be used for his rebirth, Barty was only too happy to oblige."

"And this is the time when you discovered the new way to counter the Imperius Curse?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then tell us, Miss Jorkins, what did you do?"

"I killed Barty."

"...I...see...How did you resist the Imperius Curse long enough to kill the late Bartimus Crouch Junior? No offence, Miss Jorkins, but it takes an extraordinary amount of willpower to break the Imperius Curse, or even resist it for a short amount of time."

"No offence taken, sir, and to answer your first question, I just did it."

"Care to elaborate, Miss Jorkins?"

"You see, sir, there's a certain, but brief, time period in between the first command and the initial casting. There is also the fact that the Imperius Curse is intent based. While I was not fast enough to take action before the first command was given, Barty, in his fragile recently post-Imperius state, gave me the rather open-ended command of 'Don't try to escape'. And so I didn't."

"But you clearly escaped, Miss Jorkins."

"The Imperius works by putting you in a extremely relaxed state, while instructions are whispered to you to ingrain them into your subconscious."

"There is nothing less relaxing than knowing you're going to be used as a sacrifice in a ritual to resurrect a fallen Dark Lord."

"As such, with the hyper-relaxed part of the curse out of the way, I simply reasoned with my brain that killing Barty wouldn't be trying to escape, as I'm not attempting leaving the house, got over the ingrained command, then killed Barty with a well placed _Reducto_ to the chest to get rid of the curse entirely."

"Well, then, Miss Jorkins. The committe would like to thank you for sharing your findings with us. Your research will be intensively tested by the Ministry for Magic, before being used appropriately for various causes if found usable. You will be given an Order of Merlin, Third Class, and 500 galleons, during a public ceremony, if your research is shown to be usable. Have a good day, Miss Jorkins."

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 _Just a short piece about a smarter Bertha Jorkins exploring how easy it is to exploit loopholes in magic, coincidentally being bewitched and unbewitched along the way._

 _Written for Task 13(additional task) Charms for the Hogwarts Challenge Forum thing._

~Thick Soup


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